WASHINGTON — The oil and gas boom is saving consumers thousands of dollars annually and tipping the scales in favor of U.S. makers of chemicals, steel, glass and other materials, a study released Wednesday by consultants IHS Economics concludes.

“It’s a positive story, and we’re at the beginning of it,” said IHS vice president John Larson. “The best is yet to come as you look at us connecting all the resources to end markets.”

The boom began in North Texas’ Barnett Shale natural gas play when drillers using hydraulic fracturing with vast amounts of water and sand unlocked petroleum that was once out of reach. After the techniques spread to oil drilling, Texas production took off like a rocket — from 1.14 million barrels a day in June 2010 to 2.57 million in June 2013.

Wednesday’s study is the third installment of IHS’ “America’s New Energy Future: The Unconventional Oil and Gas Revolution and the U.S. Economy.”

Among the latest findings:

The average American household had an extra $1,200 last year because of lower energy prices for natural gas, electricity and goods and services. The savings are expected to rise to $2,700 in 2020 and $3,500 in 2025.

Foreign and U.S. chemical companies invested $4.8 billion in American plants last year and will spend an estimated $12.8 billion in 2015. Much of the investment is along the Texas coast. By 2025, total new chemical investments will reach $129.3 billion and create 319,000 new jobs.

The boom had created 2.1 million direct and indirect jobs by the end of last year. The number is expected to reach almost 3.9 million by 2025.

Not feeling richer

Larson admitted that this upbeat outlook hasn’t given most consumers much to cheer about.

“People don’t feel like they have an extra $1,200 in their pocket, but if we were importing LNG [liquefied natural gas], everyone would be facing much more severe costs than they face today,” he said. “The recession could have been much, much worse.”

The study was funded with support from oil and gas producers, pipeline companies, manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, all of which have lobbied to keep federal and state governments from limiting fracking because of environmental and water supply uncertainties.

Larson said the economic benefits from the boom would be cut sharply if new regulations curtail fracking.

“The ‘ask,’ if you will, was to try and understand, does this have an economic impact beyond just the activity identified with the extraction of these resources,” Larson said. “If you look at the top-line number, the increase in disposable income, there’s a bigger story here.”

Good for Texas

IHS’ three-volume study has found the clearest economic gains in Texas, with 576,000 jobs added because of the oil and gas boom by the end of last year.

Industrial natural gas costs in Texas are half the level paid by manufacturers in New Jersey, one-third of the cost faced by European manufacturers and a fourth of what Asian factories pay. That’s steering more manufacturing to Texas.

Four international steel firms have announced $3.3 billion in new plants — two outside Corpus Christi, one in Bay City and one in Bryan.

These forecasts may hit some unexpected bumps. Oil refiners with access to new domestic production from Texas and North Dakota were highly profitable in 2011 and 2012 because of crude oil discounts forced by pipeline bottlenecks. Now that those have cleared, U.S. and world oil prices are more in line and refining is once again a tough business.

Larson said he expects a spread to reappear between U.S. and foreign oil prices as producers keep adding wells and supplies. The need to move that oil will be so great that the IHS study estimates 47,000 miles of new and expanded pipelines will be built by 2025.